By Tom Spalding, The Indianapolis Star
More than 2,000 police officers from Central Indiana and around the country are expected to be in Indianapolis this weekend to honor slain Indianapolis Police Department patrolman Timothy “Jake” Laird, 31, whose funeral will be Monday.
He was killed and four officers were wounded in a shooting rampage about 2 a.m. Wednesday.
Visitation will be from 2 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Crown Hill Mortuary, 700 W. 38th St. The roughly 90-minute funeral will be at 11 a.m. Monday at St. Luke’s United Methodist Church, 100 W. 86th St.
Then, at least 500 cars will be involved in the winding procession south that will travel past Indianapolis Police Headquarters at Alabama and Market Streets, then proceed past IPD’s South District substation, 1150 S. Shelby St. The burial will be private at Crown Hill Cemetery, although television media will be allowed to film the activity.
Laird will be laid to rest in the cemetery’s Heroes of Public Safety section, which is for local public service employees killed on the job. Laird, who was 31, will be placed in the shadow of some trees to the right of Paul K. Jolliff, an Indianapolis firefighter who drowned in a scuba-diving training accident in 2002.
“Jake served the community and loved the community and the family wants to see that honor being paid,” said Danny Overley, president of the IPD credit union who is among several people planning the funeral.
Police shot and killed Kenneth C. Anderson, 33, who ambushed police while terrorizing his Southside neighborhood Wednesday. Officers later found Anderson’s mother, Alice Anderson, shot in her nearby home.
Two of the officers wounded Wednesday, Tim Conley and Leon Essig Jr., are in good condition at Methodist Hospital as they recover from gunshot wounds. Officers Peter Koe and Andrew Troxell were treated Wednesday and released.
Also today, IPD south district patrolmen Paul Humphrey and Brian Hofmeister - joined by mourning, red-eyed coworkers, showed off an enlarged version of a sticker honoring slain officer Tim Laird. For $5 each the public can buy the stickers. Proceeds will go to a fund for Laird’s daughter, and the goal is $50,000.
“It’d be absolutely fantastic to see it on every car in Marion County,” Humphrey said.
Starting on Tuesday, stickers will be available at any district roll call office, the chief’s office on the second floor of the east wing of the City-County Building, IPD’s training academy at 10th Street and Post Road, and the FOP union hall on East Washington Street.
Officers got them first on Saturday.